Coffee Splash from an Espresso Machine with Houdini
Personal project, 2025 – simulated in Houdini, assembled and rendered in Cinema 4D/Octane.
About the project
This personal project from 2025 is a spec ad for coffee – conceived as a CGI shot that could run in a TV commercial. It simulates a stream of coffee pouring from an espresso machine into a cup.
The focus was on showing Houdini skills in fluid simulation: how the stream behaves, how it merges into the liquid already in the cup, and the fine surface motion of the crema.
Technique
The fluid simulation was built in Houdini, and the fluid mesh was then exported as an Alembic cache and brought into Cinema 4D. Additional 3D elements, shading and texturing were added there.
The finished scene was rendered with Octane Render. The Alembic workflow keeps simulation and image-making cleanly separated: Houdini handles the physics, Cinema 4D and Octane the final look.
More stills
